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Consider Buying a Natural Gas Detector

Most of us are familiar with smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, but experts say consumers may also want to consider keeping a natural gas detector inside their home. (Published Friday, March 2, 2018)

The recent gas shutdown for a Northwest Dallas neighborhood has many families asking themselves, "What can I do to make my home safer?"

We found a number of natural gas detectors and alarms online of all shapes and sizes. Retailers like Home Depot, Walmart and Amazon also sell these devices.

Drew Barbosa owns Barbosa Plumbing and Air Conditioning, which is just minutes away from that Northwest Dallas neighborhood.

His company works on gas lines all the time. He said there are a lot of expensive gas detectors on the market with a lot of bells and whistles, but the basic wall plug-in detectors work just fine.

"You can do it yourself. They just plug in to the 110 outlet," he said. "We recommend it in the central part of the house. A lot of times, in the central part of the house, you have your AC returns and the air is circulating. It's a good place. If there is a leak, its usually going to come back through that return and its going to be picked up."

Barbosa also recommends that you read your manual and test your gas detector every year. He also said to make sure your detector specifically says "natural gas."

We can't say if this would have made a difference in last week's home explosion, but we're told they can help in some cases, and having one in your home as a precaution certainly won't hurt.